


Measure of a Man

by ElAlmaDelMar



Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [19]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Emotional Abuse, Gen, Puberty, also not totally sure the underage warning applies, but I'm gonna stay on the safe side with that, secondary gender sexism, there's no sex just a kid in puberty exploring himself a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27113590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElAlmaDelMar/pseuds/ElAlmaDelMar
Summary: "Mark my words," Morgan growled darkly, on more than one occasion.  "It'll all come to grief in the end. You can't trust an omega in the heat of battle. They're just too soft. Let the Os stay at home and raise their babies, and let the alphas fight! That's the way of the world, and the Marines would be stronger and better if they kept it that way."A/B/O/tober Day 19: Secondary gender puberty
Series: A/B/O/tober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947415
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22
Collections: A/B/O/tober 2020





	Measure of a Man

It started when his mom left. 

There was probably tension before that; looking back on it, Helmeppo knows this. But at the time, he was too young to be paying that much attention, and so until the day he came home to his father in a rage, smashing furniture in their small home on base and roaring his fury toward the heavens. How could the traitorous bitch leave him? Where would she find a better alpha than him, Lieutenant Commander Morgan, who had singlehandedly brought in the hated and feared Black Cat Kuro? She'd get what was coming to her, and no mistake! 

Eventually, the rage had cooled, but Morgan's temper grew steadily worse. He told Helmeppo over and over how there was no real strength left in the world anymore. There were too many omegas who didn't know their place, and alphas who weren't strong enough to keep theirs. Even the Marines had declared a firm gender-neutral policy, and omegas were beginning to rise in the ranks of the sea's guardians. 

"Mark my words," Morgan growled darkly, on more than one occasion. "It'll all come to grief in the end. You can't trust an omega in the heat of battle. They're just too soft. Let the Os stay at home and raise their babies, and let the alphas fight! That's the way of the world, and the Marines would be stronger and better if they kept it that way." 

There'd never been any question in his mind that Helmeppo would, in time, present as an alpha; after all, he was Morgan's son, wasn't he? And how often had his father told him of their proud lineage, their family line that produced alphas generation after generation. One day he'd present as an alpha, and then he'd follow his father's footsteps into the Marines and become a great hero too! It was all planned out.

* * *

A few months into being fourteen, he woke up one morning with a strange, sore feeling between his legs. Puberty had been gnawing at him for a little while now; his father had started grumbling at him that he stank, and real men ought to be smart enough to wash their asses properly. He was having awful pimples breaking out across his face. He'd been on a growth tear, and his knees ached far too often. And now this. 

He slid a hand uncomfortably into his boxers, probing around that sore feeling. If he was presenting as an alpha, he knew, then his balls might ache, but this wasn't there… it was a little farther back, just behind his sac. Back there, he felt — was that the beginnings of a small cleft? Barely more than a divot, but the tenderness centered on a shallow crease that ran down the valley of his crotch. 

Realization struck him with a sudden icy chill, like he'd stepped into a cold shower. This was puberty all right, his body working toward presenting… and not as an alpha. 

_Dad's gonna kill me._

Could he hide it? He got plenty of privacy; his father was busy working long hours and climbing the Marine career ladder. He might not even notice if Helmeppo had to stay in his room sometimes. As long as he wasn't doing anything that reflected badly on his father or tarnished his reputation as a great Marine hero, he got left pretty well alone. 

Oh, but his scent! At some point he'd start smelling like an omega, and then — and then everything would be ruined. He couldn't follow in his father's footsteps, couldn't make him proud. Maybe he'd even get called a bastard, since the Morgan family line was all alphas? That would be the worst. His mom had left, and then to have his father reject him too… no, no. He couldn't think about that. 

Maybe he could cover it up. They made products for that, right? Make you smell just how you wanted, and hide anything you wanted hidden. And he'd have to act like an alpha too, all big in the britches and in control of everything around him. That's how alphas were supposed to be, right? 

He bit his lip and stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He had to hold it together. Had to be the person his dad expected him to be. Act the part and maybe he could fool everyone around him. 

Dammit, he was going to try!

* * *

In hindsight, he's surprised at how long that little gambit lasted. Overnight — as far as his father could tell — he developed an interest in personal grooming, in wanting to look cooler, older, more mature, more put-together. Mostly, that had been a cover for buying the strongest scent concealers he could afford on his allowance, and covering up the concealers with cologne. It was an elaborate deception that slowly took on reality. If he was gonna obviously take care to smell good, it made sense he should also take care to look good, right? His greatest motivator was not to be so weird that his father took notice. So there it was. Clothes. Scent. Hair. _Attitude._

He watched the alphas among the other military brats on base and the civilians in town, and did his best to mimic their confident swagger. Shoulders squared, hands on hips, taking up the space he knew (he told himself) the world owed him. That was how an alpha acted, and therefore, that was how he'd act. Never let anyone see him hesitate; never let anyone see him be uncertain. 

The more he did it, the easier it got, until he could walk the town with genuine pride, enforcing his father's will and seeing himself obeyed. He got himself a wolfhound for added swagger — surely that was the kind of pet only an alpha would have! — and grinned to see people bowing before him. 

He couldn't actually join the Marines like this, though — the first thing they'd do would be to give him a physical, and then it'd be all over. His gender would be stamped right there in his personnel file for anyone to see, and his father as a captain would naturally have access to it. Would naturally want to follow his progress. He didn't dare. 

So instead he walked the town as his father's unofficial deputy, drawing on that famous name and on his own increasingly flawless (if he did say so himself) performance as an alpha to cement his reputation as an enforcer. 

He was Helmeppo, son of Captain Axe-Hand Morgan. He wasn't a weakling. Wasn't an omega. He was strong, in control. 

At least, until Roronoa Zoro came to town.

* * *

After his father's arrest, he thought to himself, _the hell with this._ He wanted to be a Marine — and he'd seen how fast his father had fallen! Helmeppo might have been a lot of unflattering things. He wasn't stupid, he heard what the townspeople said about him. But he hadn't realized how the sailors on the base shared that opinion, or the low opinion of his father. A great and respected hero? It didn't seem like it. 

What if… what if he just started from the bottom up, the way things should be done? Surely they'd recognize his natural quality in no time and promote him up the chain! In fact, he could probably get promoted even _faster_ than his father. In no time at all, he'd be Helmeppo, the great hero of the Marines, and his dad would weep with pride in his prison cell to hear all about his wonderful son. And if the world knew he was an omega then — well, they could suck on it. He'd be the greatest omega anyone had ever seen.

* * *

"Help!" Helmeppo wailed as his father snatched him up, pressing the blade of the axe to his own son's throat. "Help! Koby! Vice-Admiral sir!!" 

"Shut your whining," Morgan growled over him. "Useless coward omega. This is the only thing you're good for. I can't believe you fucking lied for so long." His burly arm held Helmeppo tight, too tight for him to get free, no matter how hard he flailed or fought back. 

The Vice-Admiral was down on the deck, bleeding — Koby watched him in helpless horror, his small pale hands reaching out for Helmeppo uselessly — god, he was going to die here, wasn't he? His own father turning on him like this, after scenting him out when he was brought on board... 

"Oi, all of you!" Morgan bellowed, loud enough to make Helmeppo flinch. "Rig a lifeboard for me, or I'll split this miserable pup in two!" 

And they did it. That was the most unbelievable part. They'd simply let a prisoner go, only because of him? Under his father's stern eye — and looming axe — Helmeppo tremblingly set the sail as soon as their lifeboat touched the water. At least he'd learned a little something as a chore boy… he wouldn't have even been able to do this much before. But there was no approval from his father; only a furious silence and the glittering blade of the axe hovering over him. Helmeppo felt hot tears rise in his eyes, shame and fear and loathing all mixed and mingled together. To think he'd been afraid his father would be executed! The man had no such caring for him. 

"Once we make it to land," Morgan growled ominously, "we're going to have _words_ about that scent on you, boy. No son of mine—" 

And somehow, that was what did it. That was the final straw. 

"No son of yours!" Helmeppo burst out, fear overflowing into anger. "Well then, I'm not your son! Guess what, _father_ ," and he layered the word with hysterical scorn, "I've been an omega all this time, and you didn't even notice! You didn't even pay enough attention to figure out I've been having heats for five whole years! You don't even care I exist unless I'm reflecting your glory." 

Morgan stared at him, nonplussed — his face going scarlet with rage, his mouth opening to roar a response. But Helmeppo didn't give him the chance to speak. 

"And what glory is that? You're in a prisoner's stripes now, and not a single man under your command was willing to speak up for you! And why's that? Because you haven't _got_ any glory! You brought in one pirate years ago and you think that makes you amazing forever, and you should get to dictate how things will be. Well, you're wrong! I'm an omega, and I'm going to be a great Marine, and I'll be better than you ever were! I'll be a thousand times the man you are! And that starts now!" He took a deep breath, knowing suddenly what he had to do. 

"You won't use me as your hostage, either! I'd rather drown!" And so saying, he flung himself into the water — he'd never been a strong swimmer, and the ocean waves were difficult, but he'd rather struggle and try than sit there passively under his father's axe as a hostage. 

He swam and swam and swam, and when his strength had nearly gone, strong hands caught him up and lifted him onto the ship, and he was one again among the Marines. Among _his fellow_ Marines. 

Looking back, Helmeppo thinks his life really started only on that day, when his comrades pulled him out from the waters and out of his old life forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said back when I posted [In the Shadows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905066), I very abruptly got a whole bunch of ideas about how the Marines operate with regard to secondary gender, and a whole bunch of ideas about how Helmeppo's life worked in an A/B/O setting. So, when I got this prompt -- well, why not use those ideas?


End file.
